Manually scaling, provisioning, and configuring cloud resources increases the risk of making mistakes that could have a negative impact on system performance or availability. But there is, however, a solution: automation! Automated cloud computing solutions can minimize or eliminate the amount of time and effort your team devotes to configuring virtual machines, building VM clusters, launching virtual networks, and more.
Think about the amount of time we can save by simply automating processes. Discover some of the most significant use cases for cloud automation in technology.
What Is Cloud Automation?
Cloud automation is the process or practice of automating part or the whole of the manual operations associated with managing and running cloud-based IT infrastructure using special software methodologies and tools.
Cloud automation in private, public, and hybrid cloud settings can help IT companies and software development teams decrease administrative burden and meet workflow goals such as continuous integration and continuous deployment.
It is also possible to automate the setup, configuration, and control of cloud computing systems using software tools that are specifically designed for this purpose. A growing number of enterprises are already turning to the cloud to run vital applications and services, and as a result, cloud automation technology is becoming increasingly important in IT departments.
How Cloud Automation Works
While enterprise businesses may now get on-demand computing and storage resources from cloud service providers, nothing has, however, been done to lessen the burden of maintaining cloud infrastructure until recently.
In the past, deploying and executing tasks in the cloud required a lot of manual configurations by IT administrators. These operations, such as installing virtual machines, setting up and managing clusters of virtual machines, and configuring virtual networks, were all done manually.
As many as one hundred virtual computers would be required to handle a given workload, and each one would have to be set up individually. These tools are implemented on top of a virtualized environment and automate repetitive processes, such as provisioning virtual resources, defining common configuration items, and setting up infrastructure as code in virtualized environments.
A cloud orchestration software solution enables developers to automate the deployment and administration of workloads, so that routine activities may be readily repeated in the near future. Automation software can conduct such specified processes without the need for IT operators to intervene.
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What are the Benefits of Cloud Automation to IT Departments?
Investing in and customizing a cloud automation platform in today’s digitalized world will pay off in the long run in terms of saving time and money. In most cases, it is possible to automate or schedule a process once it has been specified, so that it can be used again with little or no human interaction. It is possible to start reaping some of the advantages of cloud-based automation.
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Errors are a thing of the past
There are many tedious and time-consuming tasks that can be automated to make cloud deployment and management more efficient. Let’s face it: Manual labor is time-consuming and error-prone. It frequently leads to troubleshooting that could affect the availability of your work.
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Automating IT processes reduces costs
Managing cloud-based operations becomes easier when firms integrate cloud automation into their IT architecture. Aside from reducing the time it takes to do normal tasks, automated operations may also save you money. Your teams will have to spend less time diagnosing and troubleshooting because there are fewer manual processes.
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Continuous deployment is enabled via cloud automation
You need automation if you want to modernize your deployment process and adopt true DevOps. Continuous Delivery, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and tight feedback loops all depend on automation. Continuous deployment is all about the automation of the application deployment pipeline in order to enhance the frequency of updates to the application.
It is therefore possible to greatly profit from the use of cloud automation tools when working in a DevOps or Continuous Deployment paradigm for software development. Cloud automation can also help with quality assurance and testing. It is possible to provision virtual machines and provide computing resources to a test’s workload using a cloud automation platform.
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Exceptional security
Your application and business may be at risk if manual cloud deployment creates security risks. Thus, automating sensitive tasks is a smart move. Tapping into mission-critical systems with many team members will increase the risk of human error and data leaks.
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Organizational innovation is fueled by cloud automation
Streamlining repetitive operations with cloud automation allows your most brilliant developers, IT operators, and security professionals to focus on their core competencies rather than getting weighed down by menial administrative tasks.
Instead of completing regular fixes or day-to-day operational duties, cloud automation allows enterprises to utilize the creativity and knowledge of their greatest employees to address real challenges.
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Efficient backups
Whether it’s a mechanical failure or a cyber intrusion, automation plays a critical role in securing your systems. Backups can be automated in the cloud or to an on-premises environment based in the cloud to increase your resiliency.
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Improved management
Administrators’ lives are made more onerous when systems are operated manually or on an as-needed basis. A consolidated view and more control over the infrastructure can be obtained by simply automating the process.
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Maximizing all the cloud benefits
Automated storage and backups, security and compliance management, modifications in configurations and settings, and code deployment have all become possible, all thanks to cloud automation technologies.
Cloud Automation Use Cases
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Reduction of waste and cloud sprawl
In order to lower your cloud expenditures and reduce the risk of over-provisioning or resource sprawl, a cloud automation solution can shut down idle instances. Getting rid of orphaned instances and shadow IT projects save you money that would have otherwise yielded no value.
Cloud automation solutions are excellent at spotting zombie infrastructure and preventing a massive cloud cost at the end of the month by identifying the problem early on.
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Creating and managing cloud-based resources
When faced with various alternatives, it’s difficult to choose the best virtual machine. But which one offers the most value for money? Cloud resources can be rightsized and automatically scaled using an instance selection technique. Massive amounts of data are processed by automation technologies in order to determine the appropriate instance kinds.
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Making Infrastructure-as-Code easier to implement (IaC)
Another important use case for automation is the development of Infrastructure as Code (IaC). Configuration files are used to define the IT infrastructure in IaC. As a result of this setup, it is automatically launched.
Thanks to cloud automation, you can expand IaC to control practically all parts of the infrastructure and orchestrate more sophisticated systems. Virtual machines, containers, and virtual private networks (VPNs) can all be defined via automation procedures. Then, the configuration elements are loaded with application components and services and brought together to provide a better operational environment.
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Enabling hybrid cloud computing
For hybrid cloud to work, both the on-premises and public cloud systems must be carefully integrated. You can also benefit from cloud-based automation solutions in this area. To allow cloud bursting, they can synchronize assets across on-premises data centers and cloud resources, transferring loads to the cloud when your application exceeds local resources. This allows for disaster recovery scenarios where the remote site mirrors the on-premises infrastructure, thereby allowing for greater flexibility.
Final Thought
Cloud-based applications must still be monitored by IT companies even if they use cloud automation to undertake scheduled maintenance tasks and updates. A steady flow of data is necessary even for teams that deploy on a continuous basis.
When it comes to monitoring the efficiency of cloud automation, operational analytics solutions will become increasingly important for IT companies as the scope and complexity of cloud systems expands. Implementing cloud automation can save you a significant amount of time and work.
As a result, you can develop more reliable and predictable workflows with more scalability and security. What’s stopping you from automating your cloud resources’ provisioning, management, or scaling? It’s high time you got interested in experimenting with automated operations.
